Technical Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of irrigation apparatus for water management, and more particularly to a sustained release irrigation apparatus for effective water management.
Description of the Related Art
The overhead irrigation method is a preferred form of administering water and other essential nutrients including delivering dissolved fertilizers to various agricultural products. The overhead irrigation technique is not particularly efficient in terms of water management. For this and other reasons, conventional overhead irrigation methods have considerable drawbacks. One such drawback is the loss of resident water quantity due to rapid drainage of the water. This loss in the water quantity occurs if the irrigation is done on plants grown in a regulated environment such as nurseries, greenhouses, experimental plots and containers. Surface evaporation also causes great loss in the water quantity. Another drawback of overhead irrigation is the growth of algae and other weeds due to logging of water on the top surface of the soil. Other disadvantages include leaching of fertilizers and nutrients from the soil.
An alternative to the overhead irrigation is sub-irrigation methods for watering plants in a regulated environment. Sub-irrigation is a method for irrigating plants from beneath the soil surface. It is often used to grow field crops such as tomatoes, peppers and sugar cane. In addition, plant varieties grown in houses also can be maintained using this type of irrigation. Sub-irrigation reduces the amount of water needed for producing high-quality plants, discharged waste water, and the leaching of nutrients from the soil compared with traditional overhead irrigation systems. Further, the sub-irrigation method is beneficial in watering plants in small areas having many diverse species of plants. In the sub-irrigation method, a water containing structure is flooded until the water level contacts the medium. Once the contact is made, capillary action moves water up through the medium and throughout the container.
Various methods have been developed for irrigating potted plants through a sub-irrigation system. One such method includes a closed irrigation system for irrigating container grown potted plants. The system includes a greenhouse bench having a floor of desired width and length for supporting a plurality of potted plants. This sub-irrigation system is more suitable for large scale plant cultures like green houses, nurseries and flower shops than small scale plant cultures.
Another sub-irrigation system includes water bearing capillary carpet disposed on a supporting surface. A plurality of water permeable pots resting upon and in hydraulic connection with the carpet is provided. The capillary carpet provided is a four-layer capillary carpet. The uppermost layer among the four layers is fixed with the lower layers and cannot be replaced if soiled or damaged.
Yet another sub-irrigation system includes a method for hydraulically isolating a series of capillary mat sections from one another by a water impermeable base membrane, thereby preventing water migration from one section to the next. This method requires an additional dedicated system for supplying water to the sub-irrigation system through drip tubes, feeder tubes or drain lines.
There is thus a need for an irrigation apparatus that is cost effective and reliable. Such a needed apparatus would be effectively utilized for small scale plant cultures. Further, such a needed apparatus would allow a user to easily replace soiled or damaged top layers of the apparatus. This needed apparatus would not require an additional dedicated system for supplying water to the apparatus thereby reducing the bulkiness of the apparatus. Such a needed apparatus would minimize or prevent wasting of water and provide an efficient irrigation water management process. These and other objectives are accomplished by the present invention.